This week's episode of Manifest amped up the drama big time without creating any huge questions for the viewers. Instead, family and personal relationships were the focus of the episode, though there were still mysteries to be had. Here's a general overview of everything that happened in the episode and how it made us feel.
The episode began by following flight attendant Bethany in a flashback to Flight 828's return to New York. After hearing that the flight was going to be diverted, Bethany grabbed a bag from one of the overhead bins and suspiciously hid something from it. Clearly, she was going to be the fellow passenger the gang helped out in this week's episode, though what she was hiding was not revealed immediately.
Back to the main timeline, Saanvi is working at the hospital when she sees wet footprints and a gray lady that looks exactly like a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who—but both images disappear when she looks away. Thinking she is hallucinating, she decides to get an MRI and take the results to a neuroscientist who also works at the hospital (isn't it great to have unlimited access to all the medical equipment and expertise you want?). Pretending the brain she's asking about is a patient's and not her own, she learns the scan looks like that of a homeless patient who they believe is developing schizophrenia. This understandably worries Saanvi.
As she leaves the doctor's office, Saanvi sees wet footprints again. She decides to follow them and ends up coming across the schizophrenic John Doe residing in room 810, not 828 surprisingly, who begs her to find Bethany as he is being hauled away by nurses. Feeling shaken, Saanvi calls Ben and they meet to discuss what is going on.
Ben and Saanvi's friendship is one of the purest things on Manifest. It is so nice to see Ben opening up to someone in a way he feels he cannot with his wife or sister. Neither judges each other for the actions they are taking to understand what they have each gone through. In this case, Ben is able to reassure Saanvi that she isn't going crazy and gives her Bethany's phone number (he's building a database of all the passengers on Flight 828, which isn't at all creepy).
In his own life, Ben is having trouble relating to his 15-year-old daughter Olive, calling her romper a pair of overalls and otherwise failing to bond. It's obvious Ben is trying his best to be a father to her, but when all he can remember his the sweet 10-year-old he left behind, things are sure to go poorly. Ben and Olive finally get their chance to bond after Olive is caught shoplifting from a makeup store. This bonding session is not without its own drama, however.
When Ben goes to pick up Olive from her shoplifting incident, he finally meets Danny, Grace's ex-lover, face to face. It's clearly an awkward moment and a painful one for Ben as he realizes Olive trusts Danny more than she does him. Luckily, Ben is able to repair his relationship with his daughter by repeating one of his own stories about growing up—a story of how he stole a boomerang (why a boomerang, you ask? Besides his statement that he thought it was cool, we may never know). He is able to relate with Olive about why they both chose to shoplift; it was a way for them to get some control in their life. Ben also talks about how his mother told him that "everybody deserves one free pass," and that Ben was giving this to Olive, though he doesn't feel she deserves it. After this story, Olive opens up about how she feels she didn't want to break Ben's illusions about who she really was as a person. But Ben doesn't care, he loves his daughter even if she seems like a new person as compared to the child he left behind five-and-a-half years ago. The bonding session ends with Olive asking Ben not to tell Grace about the incident, because she doesn't want to worry her mom more.
Ben's reaction to Olive's shoplifting really was the ultimate parenting move. Instead of getting angry and taking out all his frustration about the mysteries of Flight 828 and Grace's relationship with Danny, Ben treated Olive like an adult and gave her the chance to fix things on her own. He understands that she is just trying to navigate through a tough time in her life, being a teenager and dealing with the return of her father and brother after so many years. 
Ben and Grace's relationship is also not without its share of drama. During the episode, Grace gets a letter informing her that she needs to pay back all of Ben's life insurance, an amount close to $500K. Ben manages to come up with a solution (take out a few loans and slowly pay all the money back) and semi-repairs his romantic connection to Grace, though Danny is still a barrier between them.
During all of this, Michaela is assigned to stakeout with Jared, which leads the two of them to reminisce about their old relationship. The comfort level between them crashes and burns after Michaela realizes Jared asked to be assigned to her and it wasn't an accident. Things don't get any better after Michaela sees a Weeping Angel figure, just like Saanvi, who tells her to "save him." The lack of specifics causes Michaela to think she needs to save the undercover agent they are keeping track of in the stakeout. Jared listens to her and they end up botching the whole operation, leaving Jared suspended. He takes the fall for Michaela, even though she doesn't want him to, and asks that Michaela talk to someone about what is going on.
Michaela talks to Ben, who directs her to Saanvi, who is currently working with Bethany to free the John Doe. We finally find out his name is Thomas, Bethany's cousin's boyfriend whom she smuggled onto the plane because his life was in danger in Jamaica due to being gay. Unfortunately, Thomas disappears from the hospital, tripping alarms and giving Saanvi and Bethany just enough time to escape with Michaela, who just happens to drive up at the perfect time, while the NSA close-in. No one has any idea where Thomas might be until Saanvi and Michaela discuss the gray woman they had both seen. By putting together the clues (wet footprints and wings), Bethany realized it must be the Angel of the Waters on Bethesda Fountain, located in Central Park. Indeed, Thomas is there, and the three women rescue him and tell him it really has been five-and-a-half years and that his boyfriend, Bethany's cousin, wasn't coming—he had disappeared while they were gone. They realize they need to hide Thomas from the NSA and so Michaela finds an abandoned safe house where he can stay.
The episode ends by switching through all of the main characters' viewpoints. Grace decides to text Danny a thank you message, possibly opening up a future dialogue between the two. Saanvi is still looking at the brain scans, worried about what they might mean for the other passengers and herself. Jared is working overtime trying to figure out what is going on in Michaela's life and whether he can trust what she tells him. Finally, Michaela herself returns to the Bethesda Fountain to ask what the angel wants from her.
This was a jam-packed episode that changed the relationships between many characters: Ben and Olive connected as father and daughter, Michaela and Saanvi got to know each other through helping Bethany and Thomas, and Michaela and Jared's and Grace and Ben's relationships became more strained. The introduction of the visions, rather than just voices, also amped up the stakes. Hopefully, all of these relationship continue to grow, hopefully more positively than negatively, in the coming episodes and we're looking forward to see which new passenger we meet next week.
